Aereth reboot for DCC RPG?

[Sunderstone]

The pdfs of the Free RPG Day and standard modules are already available and have been for a while via DTRPG/RPGnow. The pre-order modules, I doubt will be; IIRC, Joseph wants such things to remain special as incentives for folks who actually pre-order stuff.

I can understand that but the folks that pre-ordered got physical print copies, so why not release the PDFs?

[dungeonfish]

A wizard from another dimension comes to Aereth. Very powerful. Conquers many lands. Finally defeated deep in his lair. However, before his demise he swallows his Ring of Reincarnation. Upon death he is instantly reincarnated, but the magic of the ring (native to his home dimension) is distorted by not knowing which realm in which to reincarnate him.

Ultimately, he is born into a new human body on Aereth, however by some mishap of creation or meddling of chaotic forces, the magic of the ring causes the two dimensions to begin to merge into one in an attempt to solve the problem. Over the next 50 years the native dimension, being far more harsh, begins to show itself physically on Aereth by the appearance of otherwordly monuments and geographical features. It also suppresses the realm of Faerie, maintaining complete separation of the fey world and the "normal." ie. humans can't see elves or dwarves without being granted the witchsight, or elfsight, a la The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson.


Campaign bonus idea:

The wizard was reincarnated into the subconscious only of the new body, and due to the merging of worlds his subconscious thoughts and dreams of the horrific creatures of his native world begin to manifest themselves across Aereth. The characters must find the reincarnated wizard to stop the manifestations. The wizard must reunite with the ring to gain full consciousness. The characters have just discovered the ring.

[Colin]

The pdfs of the Free RPG Day and standard modules are already available and have been for a while via DTRPG/RPGnow. The pre-order modules, I doubt will be; IIRC, Joseph wants such things to remain special as incentives for folks who actually pre-order stuff.

I can understand that but the folks that pre-ordered got physical print copies, so why not release the PDFs?

Just my opinion, but given that the pre-order module was all of 16 pages long, putting out a pdf of it as if that's somehow a lesser thing/not as good, just wouldn't work. It's not like it's hard for anyone to print off and bind such a short pdf for next to nothing or even in quality comparable to the original printing anyway. You can't turn to folks who ponied up for the pre-order stuff thinking it was a super special benefit and then say, "Well, we'll release it in pdf to other folks too; at least you got yours in print." Start doing that and folks aren't going to be as enticed by future pre-order incentives as they'll be thinking, "What's the point? It'll be released later in pdf anyway, and I can simply print it off and bind it for cheaper then."

Colin

[vogless]

Put me in for a request for a boxed set to cover the DCC RPG.

I've pretty much been out of RPG's since 4th edition hit the stands. I did have a great oppertunity to play a few games with Doug Kovacs last year, but that's about it. I just picked up some of the new modules the other day and have been reading them. They read like an Erol Otis painting! Great stuff!

These modules need a big and wild world. Only a boxed set will do. Not sure if a reboot will do it or not, but I really want to read more about the crazy world these adventures occur in!

[Tortog]

I'm a huge fan of Aereth and the DCC modules, but I'm not sure Aereth needs total re-boot... more like a re-tooling to fit the DCCRPG mechanics and most of that is with the gods, critters, and special equipment/spells/NPCs (GM's Guide Stuff). The thing to keep in mind IMO is: which part of the Appendix N to use as a model? Vance's Dying Earth which is somewhat mirrored in the saga of the Criestine Empire; or RE Howard's world... which is mirrored in the savage lands of Cinai? Tschai Planet of Adventure? Middle Earth? All qualify as appendix N... The information in DCC#35 concerning the places is all still usable as is, and most of the histories and such are already Appendix N flavored. IMO that's what made Aereth stand out from all the other available world settings.

FWIW & If it were up to me: I'd just wait 'til the right moment and release a special 'anniversary' edition of DCC#35 as is (or with a new cover) to get the information back into circulation; then release a smaller DCC#35n with the necessary DCCRPG updates as well as a bonus map; because as awesome as the old maps are, they are narrow. I've always assumed they only covered about 1/3 of the planet's circumference... maybe all Aereth needs is a couple more continents.

Just my 2cp.

[Gameogre]

After much thought.....how about retooling Aereth for DCCRPG in a brief Gazetteer? Something with basic God info,maps and paragraph sized write ups of kingdoms? Think more AD&D Greyhawk and less 3.5's Forgotten Realms.


Really I bet the guys could put a short Gazetteer together with the old maps and resources in a short time.